In Dungeons and Dragons, combat is one of the two disparate elements that make up the gameplay. Players alternate between roleplaying encounters within a fantasy world, to hacking and slashing against powerful foes in combat that plays out like a war game.

For many players, combat in D&D can drag on too long, or end up feeling slow. Between other players and the enemies, there can often be fifteen minutes or more between a player's turns, meaning that one person can be sitting and waiting for other people to roll dice for quite a while.

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This issue should be compounded on Critical Role, as they have a massive 7 players engaged in combat at a time. Party members like Liam O'Brian and Marisha Ray have a long time to wait between turns, so Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer has made a key change to combat to ensure that every turn his players take feels impactful and worth the wait. It's not the first weird Dungeons and Dragons rule that's been switched up, but the game designers didn't change this one.

Healing and Bonus Actions in Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance Concept Art Cover

In Critical Role, a small but straightforward change that Matt Mercer uses to speed up the combat and keep players from 'wasting' turns is that it only takes a bonus action to use a healing potion as opposed to a standard action. The reason for this is the Dungeons and Dragons "action economy." In Dungeons and Dragons players gets an "action," a "bonus action," a "reaction," and their movement on their turn. "Actions," or "standard actions" are the main thing that a player does within a turn. It's when players attack, cast large spells, or use one of many powerful class abilities.

If healing potions are competing for that "standard action," players need to choose whether to heal, or do something that feels "fun" on their turn. Waiting 15-20 minutes for their turn, and then not being able to attack or cast most spells because they need a potion, is a lousy feeling for players. By moving potions to the "bonus action," they are no longer competing with the player's ability to attack the enemy and engage in the combat. There still are abilities and some spells that require a "bonus action," so Matthew Mercer hasn't made drinking a potion entirely free, but he has lowered the opportunity cost and ensured that his players get to fight during their turn in combat.

There are many Dungeons and Dragons players who still keep potions as an action, and try to follow the Dungeons and Dragons rules as written in the player's handbook, but as more supplements and expansions come out for Dungeons and Dragons, some players like Matthew Mercer are turning to variant rules to make D&D more fun for them.

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